Breathing for Adolescent Stress Reduction Feasibility RCT

Anxiety Clinical Trial

Official title: Slow-Breathing Curriculum for Stress Reduction in High School Students: A Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study was to test a simple slow breathing curriculum for reducing stress among high school students. The curriculum was developed by the Health and Human Performance Foundation and implemented for this study at a public high school in Colorado, United States.

Clinical Trial Description

Nearly 1 in 3 US adolescents meet the criteria for anxiety, an issue worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Untreated adolescent stress and anxiety can adversely affect teenagers' development, education, and physical and mental health. Although stress-management strategies may seem abundant, many are unscalable or inaccessible for today's youth. Slow diaphragmatic breathing reduces stress and anxiety by downregulating the body's stress response, and is a recommended adolescent stress management strategy. Schools are under pressure to support students in reducing stress, yet diaphragmatic breathing practices are rarely used in school settings. The investigators developed and implemented a 5-week curriculum during COVID-era hybrid learning to conduct the first randomized controlled trial of slow diaphragmatic breathing for stress reduction in a US high school setting. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anxiety
• Respiratory Aspiration
• Stress

• NCT number: NCT05266833
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Health and Human Performance Foundation
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 20, 2021
• Completion date: March 29, 2021